Bedford Borough Lib Dems call to ban £3.5 million exec bonuses until issues are fixed
Bedford Borough's Lib Dems who are calling on the Government to ban bonuses for the water company
Last updated 28th Aug 2022
Despite many of us seeing rain in recent weeks, reservoirs continue to drain - forcing local leaders to call for action as execs Anglian Water take home millions of pounds in bonuses.
In a recent statement, Bedford Borough Liberal Democrats called on the Government to ban the £3.5 million executive bonuses until performance on sewage releases and leaky pipes greatly improves.
Last week, Mayor Dave Hodgson visited the Water Recycling Centre to talk to Robin Price, Anglian Water’s Director of Environment and Quality and colleagues.
Mayor Hodgson raised the issues of sewage releases, leaks and odour, which Anglian Water revealed is investing in additional storm capacity to reduce releases of untreated waste.
In addition, data which revealed very high incidences of sewage releases from Odell Water Recycling Centre turned out to be a huge over-estimate, thanks to errors in their instrumentation.
Mayor Hodgson said: “We’ll watch the future data on sewage releases with interest and of course want to see releases into our rivers as extremely rare events. The big bonuses reported for Executives don’t sit easily with the information the public is seeing.”
Over the last three years alone, Anglian Water have taken significant action on water leaks - reducing them by 6 per cent.
Despite these improvements, they are still estimated to lose approximately 190,000 cubic metres of water each day – enough to fill 500 swimming pools.
Anglian Water flagged up that during our period of very dry weather this summer, this has dried out clay soils which puts a big strain on pipework and will probably result in more leaks that need to be fixed.
Dave continued: “My visit and discussion was very useful. I learnt that Anglian Water, like Bedford Borough Council, is aiming to be net zero by 2030, about the creation of wetlands as part of the water recycling process and a willingness to work with partners on designated bathing sites. I look forward to these opportunities to work together.
“On more day to day matters – if you are notice a sewage odour that you think is due to the Water Recycling Centre (Sewage Treatment Works), let Anglian Water know the date, time and strength of the odour: bedford@anglianwater.co.uk”.